Quick Thai Green Curry Prawns
The paste fries in the thick cream from the top of the tin until the oil splits out green — the difference between a proper curry and hot coconut soup.
Why it works
Cracking the coconut cream and frying the paste in it toasts the lemongrass and galangal, giving depth you would otherwise only get from long simmering. Prawns go in for the final three minutes so they poach gently rather than tighten in a boiling pan. The rice goes on before the tin is opened and rests under its lid while the curry comes together.
Method
- Boil the kettle. The rinsed rice goes into a small pan with the salt and boiling water, back to the boil, then 10 minutes under a lid on the lowest heat and a rest off the heat until you serve.
- Open the tin without shaking and spoon the thick cream from the top into a cold, wide pan. Set the thin milk beneath aside.
- Cook the cream over medium-high heat 2–3 minutes, stirring, until it thickens, sputters and green-tinged oil separates at the edges. Add the paste and fry 90 seconds, pressing it into the oil, until it smells fragrant and darkens.
- Pour in the reserved milk with the fish sauce, sugar and lime leaves and bring to a gentle simmer.
- Add the beans and courgette and simmer 4 minutes, then the sugar snaps and prawns for a final 3. The prawns are done as soon as they turn opaque and curl loosely; the beans should still snap.
- Off the heat, stir in the lime juice and most of the basil, then taste and adjust with more fish sauce or lime. Fork the rice into four warm bowls, ladle the curry over and scatter with chilli and the rest of the basil.
For the toddler
Green curry paste goes in at step 3 and colours everything after it, so theirs needs to be kept apart. When you split the tin at step 2, set aside a few spoons of the thin milk in a small pan, then poach two prawns with a little courgette and beans in it for three minutes while the curry finishes. No fish sauce in theirs. Chop the prawns and cut the courgette into soft strips.
How the toddler notes workChef’s notes
Chicken thigh strips need 8 minutes in the sauce; firm tofu and aubergine need 10.
Frozen raw prawns go straight in — add them a minute earlier. Rice noodles soaked in boiling water for 5 minutes stand in for the pan of rice.
Cucumber in rice vinegar with a pinch of sugar and salt, or a saucer of fish sauce with sliced bird's eye chilli for spooning over.
Keeps 2 days. Reheat gently to steaming only, or the prawns turn rubbery.